Most Important UConn Recruit All Time

[gtcam]

Earl Kelly - his problems with the hand gun was the main reason Dom Perno was fired

 

[Waquoit]

Earl Kelly - his problems with the hand gun was the main reason Dom Perno was fired

And the absentee AD along with him. UConn wasn't going anywhere until they both were out of the picture.

 

[bobbygt]

All of these are excellent choices and I can see the argument for almost all of them.

Especially the early ones, like Smith, Marshall, and Ray since they were elite recruits that really showed cbb that Uconn was a legit and rising power.

But if we are going to measure this based on the consummation of becoming a power, solidified with a National Championship, you have to go with Rip.

I see all the KEA votes, and Khalid is still one of my all time favorites, but if you say that Khalid took us to the top, while true, you should also say that it would never have been possible without Rip being there.

I remember how depressed I was after the 1996 season, especially because Ray and Sheffer were gone. I thought that we might be in for some lean years.

And then I watched Rip play as a freshman and knew this kid was going to be a star.

As much as KEA brought the swagger and leadership, Rip was a real bridge after those dominant, yet came-up-short teams of the mid-1990s.

Rip was the best player on the floor in the Final Four.

 

[ctchamps]

As coach would say "The UConn Family"!!

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Not only is Nadav Henefeld (The Gaza Stripper) the most important UConn recruit of all time, but I submit that he comprises the Top Ten all by himself. Everyone else starts at #11. Here is what UConn achieved in Henefeld's one season, 1989-90:

First ever Top 15 in national polls (followed by Top 10 and top 5).
First ever Big East regular season title
First ever Big East tournament title
First ever Top Seed in NCAA tournament
First ever Sweet 16 in NCAA 64-team field
First ever Elite 8 in NCAA 64-team field
First ever national media profiles for a UConn player (ESPN, CBS, Sports Illustrated)

Was Henefeld the key player on that team? No one who watched in sheer awe would even ask such a question. Was he the sole reason for UConn's first ever national recruiting class? Absolutely. And remember -- he not only brought Donyell to UConn, he brough Kevin Ollie to UConn. And how important was THAT?

How soon we forget!

The difference between what UConn became and what UConn was going to be anyway is Nadav Henefeld. Perno was getting some top regional recruits like Thompson and Cliff. Calhoun got Smith and Burrell. UConn was a Big East school with a good coach and was in a major region for recruits. UConn wasn't going to suck, and if Henefeld had not gone to UConn, we were probably good enough to get a bid and with the right matchup, win a game. The lineup would have been George, Smith, Burrell, Walker and Sellers, with a lot of Gwynn when the front court was in foul trouble, which would be always. Cyrulik would have had to play 20+ mpg. But without Henefeld, the press becomes almost impossible because Sellers and Walker are not capable of rotating like Henefeld did, and Gwynn would have shifted everyone over a position so we would have ended up with a 6'1 SF. UConn lost to a mediocre Villanova team and Texas A&M before Henefeld arrived, and they went 23-4 the rest of the way with wins over some great teams.

I believe it was down to UConn and St. Johns for Henefeld. Imagine how good the Malik Sealy/Jayson Williams St. John's team would have been with Henefeld? As it was, that team went 24-10 and lost a close game to Duke in the second round. With Henefeld, it is probably a Final Four team.

Then this Israeli shows up out of nowhere after the season had already started, and takes UConn from a decent team on track to win 18-21 games, to a Top 10 team that was a bobbled Tate George steal from the Final Four. The Dream Season led directly to the Donyell, Ollie, Fair, Donny class, and the Scheffer/Ray/Kirk class right after it. Out of all the key players in both the 1991 and 1992 classes, only Donyell was from the Northeast, and I think it is unlikely that any of those players would have attended school at a 19 win bubble team in Storrs. We would definitely not have gotten Scheffer without Henefeld.

Henefeld is the single most important recruit in UConn history.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Jim Calhoun

Then Uncle Cliffy

 

[UConn17]

Ill say Chris Smith above all

 

[Waquoit]

Then Uncle Cliffy

A couple of people have mentioned Cliff. I'm curious about their reasoning. I don't have him in my Top 10.

 

[Milo65]

Not only is Nadav Henefeld (The Gaza Stripper) the most important UConn recruit of all time, but I submit that he comprises the Top Ten all by himself. Everyone else starts at #11. Here is what UConn achieved in Henefeld's one season, 1989-90:

First ever Top 15 in national polls (followed by Top 10 and top 5).
First ever Big East regular season title
First ever Big East tournament title
First ever Top Seed in NCAA tournament
First ever Sweet 16 in NCAA 64-team field
First ever Elite 8 in NCAA 64-team field
First ever national media profiles for a UConn player (ESPN, CBS, Sports Illustrated)

Was Henefeld the key player on that team? No one who watched in sheer awe would even ask such a question. Was he the sole reason for UConn's first ever national recruiting class? Absolutely. And remember -- he not only brought Donyell to UConn, he brough Kevin Ollie to UConn. And how important was THAT?

How soon we forget!

I agree...I was a Junior at UConn then, I remember it well.

 

[RayRay19]

Daniel Hamilton

 

[Lefty2one]

I think it has to be Chris Smith. I also think Rip has to be #2 on that list.

All of the remaining usual suspects really fall into the 'chicken vs egg' debate.

• Donyell was a huge get but we don't get him without Smith first.
• Ollie was huge because without him becoming a UConn player he obviously never becomes our coach.
  
• Ray is the most recognizable UConn basketball player, by far our most successful NBA player and has been the best ambassador for UConn basketball that you could ever ask for.
• Rip was the cornerstone for our first title. How can it not be him? Chris & Donyell helped get us to become a national name but UConn doesn't become UConn without winning a title. We're just another good program that can't quite win a title without Rip.
  
• KEA was the final piece to our first title, but him coming would be meaningless without Rip (and who knows if he would have chosen UConn if Rip wasn't here).
• Butler helped right the ship and make sure we weren't a one-off championship team that feel back into irrelevance.
• Okafor was the cornerstone of title #2 and IMO the best player we've ever had (just based on performance in a UConn uniform).
• Kemba helped resuscitate the program after some up-and-down times with the Gay through Dyson years.
• Shabazz saved us from becoming irrelevant, choosing to stay when the sanctions dropped.

 

[OkaForPrez]

Reggie Lewis is the most important Husky recruit of all time, he just played for Northeastern.

 

[Danzz]

Definitely Smith. JC has said so on many occasions.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Corny Thompson. Without him, Mike McKay doesn't sign the same year. Nor does Chuck Aleksinas transfer in from Kentucky. All that leads to the BE invite, without which J Calhoun doesn't come and, as someone said, we're URI, not UConn 4-time national champions.

Corny, a top 5 recruit nationally, chose UConn over North Carolina! That's the equivalent of Diamond Stone choosing UW-Green Bay over UConn.

That was likely the greatest 2 years of CT high school basketball products with Mike McKay, Corny Thompson, John Garris followed the next year by Rod Foster, John Bagley, and John Pinone. If UConn had gotten even 2 of those other four CT players they'd have been final 4 back then.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

A couple of people have mentioned Cliff. I'm curious about their reasoning. I don't have him in my Top 10.

Cliff lead us to the NIT, which lead to the class that brought us success beyond the Dream Season. Cliff going to the NBA and having a good career showed people you can go to UConn and still become a pro. He wasn't the first, but in the ESPN/Sportscenter Era he was the genesis of our pipeline to the league. Not to mention, he was one HELL of a player for us. Not sure anyone other than Kemba did more with less in a Husky uniform.

 

[Waquoit]

Corny, a top 5 recruit nationally, chose UConn over North Carolina!

And Virginia where he would have been the PF Ralph Sampson never had.

 

[Danzz]

Corny Thompson. Without him, Mike McKay doesn't sign the same year. Nor does Chuck Aleksinas transfer in from Kentucky. All that leads to the BE invite, without which J Calhoun doesn't come and, as someone said, we're URI, not UConn 4-time national champions.

Corny, a top 5 recruit nationally, chose UConn over North Carolina! That's the equivalent of Diamond Stone choosing UW-Green Bay over UConn.

That was likely the greatest 2 years of CT high school basketball products with Mike McKay, Corny Thompson, John Garris followed the next year by Rod Foster, John Bagley, and John Pinone. If UConn had gotten even 2 of those other four CT players they'd have been final 4 back then.

They never accomplished much so it is hard to say that they were the most important recruits. Had JC had them it could have been very different. I loved Michael Mckay and Corny. Chuck not so much.

 

[Bonehead]

A couple of people have mentioned Cliff. I'm curious about their reasoning. I don't have him in my Top 10.

Cliff carried us to NIT champs - sort of got the UConn name out there.

 

[Horatio]

Winner!

Johnnie Selvie gave the program national street credibility . Kids from
Compton to the south Bronx started wearing Uconn jerseys because of Selvie.
The program owes him.

 

[CL82]

Donyell was probably the highest ranking recruit ever .
I think top 5
Emeka was also a great recruit.
Corney Thompson was so highly regarded out of high school that getting him propelled us into the Big East. So he might be the most critical recruit of all time.
Smitty was a great player and JC first great Connecticut recruit.
But Earl Kelly,Mike McKay ,Tony Hanson Al Westin and Corny all were Homegrown.
In fact the 1979 NCAA team started 5 Connecticut Kids. With Jeff Carr and Thompssin that was a pretty good rebounding team. McKay wasn't too bad a scorer either.
I believe Abromitis was also on that team. Along with Bobby The shot Dulin.

Bobby Dulin, there's a guy I haven't thought of in years.

 

[Jay-Bone]

Diamond Stone? For acute reasons....so the Boneyard doesn't snap.

 

[CL82]

Agree - No Corny ( and Mike McKay) No Big East so think URI basketball. Corny was a 5 Star type recruit and could have gone anywhere. Had he not come UConn would not have looked so good to the Big East at the time. UConn needed to look competitive at the time and without Corny maybe not.

I find this interesting but I'm not convinced this correct. I always thought UConn to the Big East was more about geography than players but I'm curious if there is any basis or statement out there that supports this. It's an interesting thought.

 

[mauconnfan]

Bobby Dulin, there's a guy I haven't thought of in years.

You wouldn't unless you were a young girl under 16.!!

 

[Waquoit]

Cliff carried us to NIT champs - sort of got the UConn name out there.

Cliff didn't carry us anywhere. That NIT was a team effort. We don't get past VCU if Jeff King didn't kick ass, for one. The time for Cliff to lead was the next year when he layed egg after egg in the big spot. That's why he didn't get drafted in the 1st round. It's no accident we had a Dream Season the year after he left. Calling Cliff a leader or "incredible player" for UConn is what the fanboys call "ret-conning." If Cliff could have found a way to motivate himself before that draft humiliation, you might have a point.

 

[Waquoit]

I find this interesting but I'm not convinced this correct. I always thought UConn to the Big East was more about geography than players but I'm curious if there is any basis or statement out there that supports this. It's an interesting thought.

It was about geography, but the powers that be were so impressed with UConn at the time that they invited Holy Cross first. After they said no, UConn forced their hand by being a team on the come. A team whose best players were freshmen and looked like they would be good for the foreseeable future. They rolled through the ECAC tournament beating a Rhody team that took Duke to the final seconds the year before. Not picking UConn would have been a tough sell.